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EspañolONE RINCON HILL
'One Rincon Hill' or '425 First Street' is a residential complex that is currently under construction on the apex of Rincon Hill in San Francisco. The complex, designed by the Chicago architectural firm Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz and Associates, will include townhouses and two highrise condo towers. One tower, 'One Rincon Hill North Tower' is planned to reach a height of 49 stories; the other, 'One Rincon Hill South Tower', will be 60 stories tall. However, because of the sloped nature of the Rincon Hill site, the lobby floor or the First Street entrance will be located on the fifth floor, and the "first" floor will be two levels underground.
Because of their height, both towers will offer spectacular vistas of the surrounding landscapes. Upon completion and due to its height, this will be the most significant addition to the San Francisco skyline in over 30 years and the tallest all-residential tower west of the Mississippi River.
Location and history
The 1.3 acre (5,260 square meter) site that the complex is located on is bounded by Harrison Street to the west, the Fremont Street off ramp to the north, the western approach to the Bay Bridge (Interstate 80) on the east, and the First Street on ramp to the south. A clock tower, owned by UNION 76 and then Bank of America was originally on the site. However, this was deemed an ineffective use of the land, and so in 2002 Urban West Associates bought the land and later proposed the first version of the complex on the same site. The original version of the complex was a 28 story and a 33 story tower named 475 First, with little space in between the towers. It also had only 506 apartments [3] . The city, after the initial proposal, raised height limits in the surrounding area and urged Urban West Associates to build to the maximum zoning - 49 stories and 60 stories and have at least 115 ft. (35 m) of clear space in between the towers. When the second and final version project was approved by the city on August 4, 2005, the fate of the Clock Tower was sealed. Before construction of One Rincon Hill, the clock tower was razed to make way for the construction of the towers.
Architecture
Both the north tower and the south tower of the Rincon Hill complex bear a resemblance to The Heritage at Millennium Park in Chicago, a building of a similar height to the south tower designed also by Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz and Associates.
Number of floors
The south tower will have 53 condo floors above ground and 4 parking levels below ground with one lobby floor that is located on 5th floor (ground level). The 6th floor (one level above ground) will include a meeting area and the top floor for a liquid tuned mass damper for a total of 55 floors above ground and 60 levels in all. When completed, it will be the building with the most floors in San Francisco.
Earthquake engineering
One Rincon Hill is the first building in the United States to have a liquid tuned mass damper. It is designed to reduce sway from earthquakes and powerful Pacific winds and it's located on the very top of the building at the 62nd floor or 57 floors above ground level from the main entrance.[4]
South Tower
This is the second-tallest tower currently under construction in San Francisco and another project is going up nearby.
2005-2006
Construction started on the first phase of the project a little over three months after the project was approved by the city in August, 2005. The ceremonial groundbreaking of the project was attended by many of the top officials of San Francisco, including mayor Gavin Newsom. However, according to the ''San Francisco Chronicle''[5] and Emporis[6], the project was stalled until January 2006. The first phase will build the townhomes and the taller south tower (376 condo units) that will be completed in 2007 or 2008. The main contractor is Bovis Lend Lease. Webcor concrete, part of Webcor Builders, is the concrete supplying subcontractor of this project.
On the weekend of August 5-August 6, September, two times in October, Thanksgiving weekend, and in late December, the crane was raised. The crane eventually will tower 720 ft. (219 m) over the construction site.
July 2006 accident
On July 21, 2006, a metal construction deck collapsed sometime around 10:45 in the morning. Two carpenters and two ironworkers were injured when they fell approximately 15 feet (5 m) along with the deck sending all four men to the hospital. Three of the men were released that afternoon, but however one of the ironworkers was kept at the hospital with his leg broken in two places, a broken ankle, and a broken shoulder[7].
Current Progress in 2007
Currently, the foundation work for the tower is complete and the first 60 concrete floors for the south tower have appeared, rising much higher than the upper deck of the Bay Bridge approach. The topped out South Towers' support columns, steel rebar and elevator core poke farther up into the sky. Work on the upper mechanical floors, crown and the liquid tuned mass dampers is in progress. There is a tower crane poking up from the site as well, a sure sign for motorists that change is happening. From March 11 to 22, the crane was lowered to replace a broken part in the crane. The crane was raised back up when a replacement part came in and the part was installed on the crane. The crane was raised two times in February, April, and May. The meeting/event floor or the second floor of the lobby could be seen as well. Curtainwall glass covers floors 8-60 of the South Tower. The first and second set of the steel buckling-restrained braces have been put in.
Townhouses
The townhouses and the podium for the Rincon Hill complex's swimming pool are topped out. The once prominent foundation and underground parking lot for the South Tower are hidden underground now. No glass has been place on the structure yet.
North Tower
The remaining north tower (327 condo units) will start construction by the end of 2007[8] and be completed in 2009. Currently, the construction offices and equipment are located on the patch of dirt where the this tower will rise.
Condos
The entire project will provide 695 condos and 14 townhomes and theoretically help remedy San Francisco's continued housing crunch and its problems. The towers themselves will be priced to be affordable to upper-middle to ultra-wealthy residents, with no affordable housing on site. The units vary greatly in price from $600,000 to $2,500,000, depending on view and the size of the unit (600 to 2,000 sq ft. or 56 to 186 sq. m). There are 26 different floor plans for the 695 condo units of the tower. The project opened up a sales office on June 16, 2006 and even before the opening, 130 of the south towers' 376 units were already spoken for in a frenzy. The Sales Center is rumored to have cost $2 million. Before the week ended, many of the units had been spoken for in a storm of potential buyers[9], hinting of the housing demand in the area. Currently, only eight units in the South Tower are still unsold and 12 townhouse units.[10][11]
Criticism
With condo prices set at $5-600,000 to $2,000,000, many critics have noted that the complex is too expensive for most San Franciscans[12]. They also note that this project is oriented towards the upper-middle class to upper class in contrast to San Francisco's goal of providing housing to all wealth classes. This is due to the fact that the complex does not have any low-income units located on site, unlike nearby projects like the 300 Spear Street complex. However, the developer Urban West Associates has contributed a total of $38.5 million to funds like the South of Market Community Stabilization Fund in order to address this problem.[13]
The height of the South Tower was also a concern to residents living to the northeast of Twin Peaks. They feared that any tall towers rising in South of Market would block their view of the Bay Bridge[14].
Developer
The developer of this complex is Urban West Associates. The total cost of the project is $290 million.
Gallery
''For a detailed gallery of the construction, see ''
References
1.
2. [1] sfgate.com 6-16-07
3. [2] sfgate.com 6-15-03 article
4. [3] sfgate.com 7-2-06 article
5. [4] sfgate.com 12-08-05 article
6. emporis.com Emporis.com
7. [5] sfgate.com 7-21-06 article
8. [6]
9. [7] Sfbizjournal 6-19-06 article
10. [8] sfgate.com 4-16-07 article
11. [9] sfgate.com 6-16-07
12. [10] 8-13-06 article
13. [11] 2-2-07 Article
14.
★ SkyscraperPage.com
★ Diagram of the South Tower
★ Diagram of the North Tower
See also
★ List of tallest buildings in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area
External links
★ One Rincon Hill
★ sfnewdevelopments.com
★ Construction gallery on flickr.com
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